Mr Khan said: "Our consultations with Alberta employers and our own labour forecasts show there is a need to expand the pilot to include these high-demand occupations.

"The good news coming out of this is Alberta is still the economic engine of Canada."

The programme enables foreign workers to be issued with a work permit that allows them to move freely between Alberta employers. Government estimates suggest the province could be short of more than 100,000 workers.

But there has been a backlash from labour groups defending Canadian workers who fear jobs will be lost and wages driven down.

Bill Stewart, a member of the Alberta Coalition for Action on Labour Shortages, said: "This is not a first resort for employers, this is a last, desperate effort. It's the least economical recruitment tool that we have."

Instead of waiting months to get to work, it will now take only 30 minutes, according to Canada's immigration department.

A spokesman said: "We need these workers. There are thousands of unfilled positions. And major construction projects are being held back because of this."

This latest move is one of a number of recent changes being made to Canada's foreign worker laws. In April, Ottawa announced that foreign workers can be paid up to 15 per cent below the average pay rate, so long as it can be clearly demonstrated the same wages are being paid to Canadian workers

The Canadian government also recently declared that companies with an unblemished two-year history of hiring temporary workers from abroad will be allowed to apply for fast-tracked hiring permission.